Rose blooms being eaten alive

pjwizon

I have a rose ''Queen of Sweden' that was planted earlier this year. It has grown well and has recently thrown about 30 buds. However, something is munching its way through the blooms. 

I've examined the plant during the day and night and can't see anything causing the damage. However, earlier this season I saw what I think were sawfly on the plant and the stems have the tell-tale wounds. Are sawfly larvea likely to be causing the damage?

AnniD

*Bump*

Dovefromabove

Perhaps photos of the damage would help us ...

pjwizon

Here's a picture of a stem with what I think is sawfly damage and a nearby munched bloom. Whatever's causing the damage has eaten about half the 30 or so blooms.

fidgetbones

The flower bud looks like it got wet and gone mouldy on the outside, preventing the flower from opening properly. It was probably all the rain we had last week. I would dead head all the blooms back to a leaf and let it reflower. Sawfly normally strip leaves back to the centre stalk.

pjwizon

fidgetbones said:

The flower bud looks like it got wet and gone mouldy on the outside, preventing the flower from opening properly. It was probably all the rain we had last week. I would dead head all the blooms back to a leaf and let it reflower. Sawfly normally strip leaves back to the centre stalk.

It's definitely not rain. You can see partly eaten petals with neat 'bite' lines, followed by the complete disappearance of the bloom. There are no petals on the ground - they're in a bug's stomach!